


Amazing Grace

by StupidSeeds



Category: Far Cry 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, More Seeds are showing up so they get tags, No Jacob yet though, Sorry Jacob, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-19
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-08 19:15:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14700486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StupidSeeds/pseuds/StupidSeeds
Summary: Rook had tried to ignore her ominous soulmate mark for most of her life. When an crazy cult leader is the one to speak the words on her hip, she knows that she was right to be nervous. Determined to resist the Project of Eden's Gate while never letting Joseph Seed catch on to the fact that they are soulmates, the Junior Deputy is going to have a tough fight ahead of her. Will she succeed or will it all be for nothing in the end?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Guess who couldn't resist writing fanfic for the first time in like 6 years because of these terrible terrible people? This gal! I'm somewhat ashamed that it wasn't the MCU or any of the other amazing things I've been obsessed with over the years, but oh well. I have been thinking of a soul mate AU for this game since I was on my first play through and I just could not resist. 
> 
> I originally started this with a oneshot in mind, but got 5000 words in and just finished the prologue of the game soooooooo... yeah it's gonna be a multi-chapter fic. I think each chapter will focus on the Deputy's interactions with Joseph in each of the regions, glossing over some of the missions and other plot. I've started writing snippets of the other meetings so hopefully this story will come out quickly. I already know which meeting will cause things to go AU so that'll be fun. It probably won't be a super long story, and I might make a sequel to keep it going. But we'll just have to see how it goes.
> 
> I'm just calling the Deputy Rook right now. I don't know if I'll go back and change that. I couldn't even name my own dog by myself so probably not hahaha
> 
> In this AU the soul mate marks are the first words a soul mate speaks directly to the other person and for them alone. So if they're doing public speaking, it wouldn't be any of the speech someone heard in the audience. You would have to go up and talk to the person one on one for the correct words. The marks are anywhere on the body and don't necessarily match for pairs. Also, I've decided to make it so the marks burn and change color to black so there's no confusion if you have a bland mark like hello or something.

Although Rook had spent most of her life surrounded by religion, she had never been a particularly religious person. Born and raised in Texas, it was impossible to avoid the presence of dozens of Christian denominations. Her parents had taken her to church and Sunday school in her early years, but before she was ten that had morphed into going only on Christmas Eve and Easter and then not going at all. Her devout grandparents lived across the state, so their influence was pretty minimal. Rook had gone through the motions for five years in a Christian summer camp, interested more in the outdoors and sports than the nightly bible study. Seven years in Christian schools had been more focused on education than the spiritual. All of this had made her plenty knowledgeable but never an actual believer. Unlike her soul mate.

Curled around her hip was the sentence “God will not let you take me.” Ever since they appeared on her skin as a child, Rook had tried to imagine why her soul mate would say these words. It could just be a joke, but that had never seemed right. Like most people, Rook often tried to picture her first meeting with her soul mate, but she could never come up with a plausible situation where those would be someone’s first words to her. Rook could not think of what she might say in response or what she may say to get a response like that. She did her best to concentrate on the simple fact that she had a soul mate, someone who would be her partner and someone who she would complement completely. It should be a comfort for the shy and introverted Rook to think that someday she would meet someone and know right off the bat that they had a connection. But it was difficult to escape their tone. More often than not, Rook did her best to push the words out of her mind and focus on the present. She procrastinated so often in life, why not procrastinate on soul mate matters as well? Of course it was hard to ignore completely, so there was always the ever-present question in her mind about what her soul mate would be like. Still, she went to school, graduated from college, joined law enforcement, and went year after year without meeting anyone who greeted her with those words. Joining the force made her worry that her soul mate might be someone she was supposed to apprehend, but after her first few nerve-wracking arrests that concern went to the back burner, present but muted. If her meeting happened like that, she would have to deal with it when it came.

Applying to the junior deputy position in Hope County, Montana had been an impulsive spur of the moment decision. In all honesty, it had been pretty out of character for the quiet and often indecisive Rook. When she actually got the job, she uprooted her life and moved out of the city and to the rural Hope County. Her small group of friends at home were a bit surprised, but now that they were in their late twenties, the majority of them had found their soul mates, were starting families, or making their own big moves and career decisions, so they wished her luck and demanded she keep in contact. For the first few weeks on the job, her new co-workers and friends, Joey Hudson and Staci Pratt, introduced her to the ins and outs of the unique county. Rook was welcomed by the majority of the townspeople, terrified by some of the local wild life, and slowly becoming familiar with her new home. 

And then there was the local cult, The Project of Eden’s Gate. Of course Rook had learned a bit about it while doing her research on the position when she applied. The doomsday cult was a small curiosity across the country, but most people were more concerned with the rapidly deteriorating relationships between the world powers than an crazy group that was isolated out in the middle of Montana. Overall, the Project of Eden’s Gate seemed to exist on a different plane during her introduction to the county. She heard rumors around town about the cult though. Kidnappings, thievery, hell even talk of failed baptisms that became drownings. As Rook became familiar with the land, she could feel the tension between the Peggies and the other citizens, but she had managed to avoid interacting with the cult. Well, more like her boss, Sheriff Earl Whitehorse, made sure she was not given any assignments or duties to do with the cult. Rook believed he was trying to hold that off until she was more settled.

That all changed when after a month on the job, Cameron Burke, a US Marshall, walked into the Hope County Sheriff’s Department with a federal arrest warrant for Joseph Seed. The recent video posted online depicting an attempt to rescue a young woman from the cult and the cult’s violent response stirred outcry even when other international issues still demanded more attention. The video had quickly become viral. Another video shortly followed where the cult leader killed another secret filmmaker, making it inevitable that the federal government would have to respond.

Whitehorse seemed to age a decade when the marshall confidently strode through the door, knowing that the extremely tense peace with the cult was going to go up in flames.

“Aw, damn,” Pratt muttered while watching the Sheriff and Marshall move into Whitehorse’s office. “Looks like shit’s finally gonna hit the fan.”

“It’s about time,” Hudson responded. It was no secret she thought the cult should have been dealt with years ago before they had developed such a strong presence in the county.

Whitehorse called the two of them and Deputy Nancy into his office as well, and they spent a few hours discussing the operation. Rook spent most of that time working on other incident reports. A few drunk and disorderlies. The latest spat between the odious Hurk Drubman Sr. and his much more friendly ex-wife Adelaide Drubman. Turkey attacks. Overall, there was nothing too out of the ordinary for Hope County. Nancy stepped out of the office a couple hours in saying she had to check in with her family. Other than that the door remained closed. She could see the Marshall and Sheriff speaking heatedly through the window looking in with Hudson and Pratt acting as mediators between the two.

Rook was surprised when Whitehorse called her into the office in the late evening. When she entered, she could feel the taut atmosphere between the sheriff and marshall. “Well, Rook, it looks like you’re going to have to join us. The marshall,” here Whitehorse glared in Burke’s direction, “thinks we should have another person to make this a four-man job.”

“Sheriff, I'd think you’d welcome the extra body with how nervous you are about this whole arrest. Deputy Pratt will be staying with the helicopter, so we need another gun when we retrieve Seed.” Burke returned Whitehorse’s glare, refusing to back down.

“Rook’s only been here a month. She hasn’t dealt with the cult before. Neither have you. Burke, you don’t know what you’re walking into.” Whitehorse seemed to know as he spoke that he would not be able to change the Marshall’s mind but wanted to give it a try regardless.

“She’s coming, Sheriff. She should have been part of this meeting the whole time, but you dragged your feet, so she’s just going to have to catch up on the ride over. Get ready to go, team.” With that Burke stood up and left the room. Whitehorse’s eyes followed him out the door. He heaved a great sigh and rubbed his face.

“Damn. I was really hoping to avoid all this… Well you heard the man, let’s get going, Deputies.” The Sheriff stood up, grabbed his hat, and slowly made his way to the door, much more reluctantly than the confident Burke just seconds earlier.

The team gave a quick run-through of the plan on the helicopter ride to Joseph Seed’s compound. Pratt would stay in the helicopter ready to make a quick exit, while the remaining four would confront Joseph Seed, serve him his warrant, arrest him, and bring him back to the chopper. Rook looked down at their phone where a video of Joseph Seed was paused. She hit play and watched in interest as the so-called Father preached. It was her first time listening to him speak. He talked of a “Collapse” and saving people whether they were willing or not. Her vague interest changed to horror when he turned straight towards the camera as he spoke of betrayal. He brought the man making the recording in the crowd forward. With a strange air of calm and without hesitation, he gouged the man’s eyes out and raised his bloody hands up to his followers. When service was lost and the video cut out, Rook was not disappointed to see the black static.

She could not escape Joseph’s presence though. Rook turned to her left to see the huge concrete statue of Joseph looming on top of what the Peggies called Angel’s Peak. As the other members of the team spoke, Rook took deep breaths to steady herself. This was her first mission of such magnitude. Her previous experience in Texas had been pretty standard, and the past month in Hope County had been extremely low-key. In no time they reached Joseph’s compound on a small island on Silver Lake. As the four of them left the helicopter with a fifteen-minute window to retrieve Joseph Seed, Rook’s stomach dropped. Much like Sheriff Whitehorse, she had a very bad feeling about this.

Walking through the compound and feeling the stares of the Peggies was the most unsettling experience of Rook’s life. The barking of dogs, muttering from the cultists, and the muted singing from inside the church provided an unpleasant soundtrack to their slow but steady walk to the church doors. Rook could barely keep her hands from shaking from nerves. When they reached the doors, Burke quickly went to open them, but Whitehorse stopped him.

“Whoa, Marshall, we do this, we do it my way. Quietly. Calmly,” he emphasized. “You got it?”

“Fine,” Burke responded. 

“Hudson, on the door. Watch our backs. Don’t let any of these people get in. Rookie, on me.” Whitehorse ordered. Rook’s stomach dropped even further. She honestly did not know what would be more intimidating. Staying outside staring down the angry cultists or facing the congregation and its leader inside the cramped church. “And you,” Whitehorse turned to Burke, “Just try not to do anything stupid.” Watching Burke respond with overconfidence saying that they’d be getting their names in the papers, Rook had little faith that Burke would follow Whitehorse’s request.

Hudson gave Rook a reassuring look. “You’ll be fine.” She turned to face the cultists gathering outside while Burke and Whitehorse opened the doors. The three of them looked into the church filled with Peggies, their attention focused on the man standing at the front. Some turned towards the officers as they entered, but it was clear that most were entranced with the man speaking at the front. Joseph Seed.

“Something is coming. You can feel it, can’t you? We are creeping towards the edge, and there will be a reckoning. That is why we started the Project. Because we know what happens next.” Hearing Joseph Seed speak in person was a unique experience. She had noted during the video that he was a very talented speaker, but in his actual presence Joseph’s charisma was even stronger. Even if someone did not believe in him, he commanded his audience’s attention effortlessly. As the three walked down the aisle, the backlit figure of Joseph Seed became clearer. Rook was surprised by his appearance. Unlike in the video where he was dressed in solemn black and white, now Joseph stood shirtless at the front, displaying scars and tattoos without shame. In all her years in Texas, she had never seen a half naked preacher before, and she somehow became even more nonplussed by the entire affair. He was also taller than she expected, at least six feet tall if not an inch or two taller. His yellow sunglasses were on even indoors in the middle of the night, and his hair was in the same tight bun she had seen in the video. She absently thought that it was a shame he was batshit crazy because physically he was not unattractive. In fact, he probably knew it and used it to draw more people to his cult. He had a rosary wrapped around his hand, another surprise considering how different his cult was from traditional Catholicism. 

Joseph continued on even as they walked forward, “They will come. They will try to take from us. Take our guns! Take our freedom! Take our faith! We will not let them!” The man was clearly in his element, but Burke was clearly losing patience with Joseph’s continued preaching. He and Whitehorse were quietly arguing, but Rook’s focus was completely on Joseph. His voice rose and fell as he spoke. “We will not let their greed or their immorality or their depravity hurt us anymore! There will be no more suffering!” 

Ignoring the sheriff’s pleas, Burke help up the warrant. “Joseph Seed, I have a warrant issued for your arrest on the suspicion of kidnapping with the intent to harm. Now I want you to step forward with your hands where I can see him.” Joseph lifted his hands, and for a moment Rook was pleasantly surprised and thought the arrest would somehow go more smoothly than they had all feared. She was wrong.

Instead Joseph continued to speak, using his raised hands to point towards them. “There they are, the locusts in our garden.” Peggies inserted themselves between the officers and their Father, guns drawn and hatred on their faces. “See they’ve come for me. They’ve come to take me away from you! They’ve come to destroy all that we have built!” The cultists erupted into furious yelling, while Whitehorse tried vainly to defuse the situation. Rook did her best to keep calm, but she could not help frantically turning her head from one way to another and taking a couple steps back. However, as soon as Joseph walked down the two steps to his followers and laid his hands on two of them, the Peggies fell silent. His hold over them was absolute.

“I knew this moment would come,” Joseph announced. “We have prepared for it. Go. Go. God will not let them take me.” Rook’s heart stopped for a moment and then seemed to beat more quickly than it ever had in her life. But no, it was different. Those were not the exact words scrawled on her hip. Plus, he was not even speaking to her directly. It was just a coincidence. An unfortunate coincidence. Three figures walked to stand behind Joseph as the Peggies obediently left the church. Rook noted that they were likely the three Seeds who served as Joseph’s inner circle. But her attention was centered on the man in front of her. After hearing something so similar to her mark, she could not look anywhere else. She was stuck staring at him as if she were watching a car accident in slow motion, too horrified to close her eyes or look away from the impending disaster. The Father raised his hands and face towards the ceiling and continued to speak.

“I saw when the lamb opened the first seal and I heard as it were the noise of thunder one of the four beasts say ‘Come and see’”, Joseph ranted even as Burke ordered him to step forward. “And I saw, and behold, it was a white horse,” The sheriff was taken aback, and Joseph turned to face Rook, his intense gaze not at all dimmed by the gaudy yellow lenses. “And Hell followed with him.” Joseph lifted his hands once more towards Rook. Unlike before, this time he seemed content to keep his hands reached out.

“Rookie, cuff this son of a bitch.” Burke ordered. He was clearly ready to end this confrontation and make a quick exit.

Joseph’s unblinking gaze stayed on Rook as she stepped forward. After a moment, he spoke to her and her alone, “God will not let you take me.” Rook stared blankly at Joseph, hoping that she had conveniently developed auditory hallucinations from the extreme stress of this arrest, but the burn on her hip said otherwise. She knew that the words on her skin were changing color from light grey to black now that she had heard them. Her soul mate was a crazed and dangerous cult leader. She was suddenly absurdly grateful that her mark was beneath layers of clothes, and no one had anyway of knowing what had just happened.

Unless she spoke to him. If she said a single word to Joseph, he would know. He would recognize the words marked on his own skin and feel that same burning. He would know that they were soul mates, that some force, God according to him, had determined that they were meant to be, perfect for one another. How would he even react? It would no doubt make this whole mess into an even bigger disaster. Her eyes scanned his chest and arms, looking desperately for a mark as if she could simply avoid saying those words and he would never know. But of course it wasn’t that easy. All she saw were his tattoos and sins sliced into him. His mark may have been on his back or maybe hidden beneath his pants, and no matter what, if she said something to him, anything at all, it would match whatever was on his skin. So she simply would not say a single word.

Burke’s voice broke through her shock, “Rook, put the cuffs on him.” For a moment, Rook worried that her fear had shown on her face, but judging by the looks of everyone else in the room, no one had guessed at the conflict within her. No doubt everyone thought she was just the rookie too terrified to arrest the intimidating cult leader. She stepped forward, ignoring the pit in her stomach, and reached out for him. Grateful for the gloves on her hands, she quickly followed orders and cuffed his hands together. She would bring him in and be done with him. There was no way they would allow the rookie to interrogate him, so all she had to do was make it through the return to the county jail without speaking to him. He would go to prison, she would never see him again, and she could forget the words on her hip. After tonight she would be done with him, done with her soul mate. She would accept her fate and just become a crazy cat lady who would tell scary stories to neighborhood children about her one dark meeting with her soul mate. Once Joseph was cuffed, she looked into his eyes one more time. He whispered to her, his voice ominous and making her wonder if cuffing him had been the right decision after all, “Sometimes the best thing to do is to just walk away.” 

For a few seconds she could not look away from his yellow-blue gaze. Whitehorse and Burke had no such reservations and strode towards the doors, and she walked behind Joseph to direct him. She spared a glance towards his siblings who seemed surprisingly ok with her cuffing their brother and taking him away from them. Their steady stares throughout the entire arrest had only made her nerves more frayed and now all three of them had their gazes focused on Rook, which made her extremely reluctant to turn her back to them. But she had a job to do. When she faced Joseph’s back, she took advantage of her position to search his skin for his words, but there was only the cross of the Project of Eden’s Gate, old scars that looked like whip or belt marks, and three sins, Gluttony, Envy, and Pride, carved into him. Her first words to him must be somewhere under his pants then, which almost made her burst into hysterical giggles. She gave her head a small shake to clear it. It did not matter where the words were. She was determined to remain silent with him, so there was no problem. With a deep breath, she placed her hand on his shoulder and began to walk him forward. 

The walk through the muddy compound was far more terrifying than the walk to church just minutes earlier. The muttering of the cultists became furious yells and desperate cries for their Father. Burke, Whitehorse, and Hudson led the way while she kept her hand on Joseph, who ambled along as if he was taking a pleasant moonlit stroll. The closer they got to the helicopter, the more agitated the Peggies grew. Burke was quickly losing his cool and pushed one to the ground and drew his weapon. He attempted to use his authority as a federal marshall to regain some control over the situation, but it was clear to Rook that the Peggies could not care less. They only cared for the safety of their Father. A rock was thrown and hit the Marshall, which led to Whitehorse and Hudson drawing their guns as well. Rook could do nothing but continue to walk the seemingly unconcerned Joseph to the chopper. Burke fired two warning shots into the air, but they did nothing to stop the rising fury of the cultists. Finally, Rook reached the helicopter and Joseph stepped up into the vehicle. Hudson pushed him into a seat diagonally across from Rook while Burke climbed in as well.

Unfortunately, reaching the chopper only seemed to spur on the Peggies. They ignored the orders to stay back and the weapons and ran to the helicopter. Some cultists leaped to climb onto it, even as the blades started to spin. They began to rise, and one cultist refused to let go of Burke’s arm. Burke shot the man, and then a female cultist with a shaved head appeared out of nowhere and grabbed onto Rook. Rook automatically reacted to the grab and pushed the woman off the ascending helicopter while everyone grew more frantic. Rook numbly noted that it was likely the first kill of her career unless the cultist was extremely lucky. 

She turned towards Joseph, who looked to be completely at peace while he began to quietly sing Amazing Grace, an extremely unsettling song in the chaos. Despite their escape rapidly going as wrong as it possibly could, Rook almost rolled her eyes. Of course her cult leader soul mate would indulge in creepy out of place singing. 

However, she was harshly brought back to reality when she looked straight ahead. Rook’s eyes widened at the sight of a cultist climbing up the front of the helicopter. The man did not hesitate to throw himself into the blades and blood splattered across the windows. The crazed devotion these people had towards Joseph was petrifying. For just a moment the world seemed to freeze, and Rook wondered if he would force that same devotion in her should he realize their connection? Would he twist her into the perfect loyal companion, eager to do as he commanded and willing to sacrifice her very being for him? The thought drifted through her mind, but it seemed to be pointless since there was a pretty good chance she was going to do die in the next minute or two anyway. The chopper began to spin and fall to the ground, going faster and faster. Joseph’s calm singing continued even as the rest of occupants of the helicopter panicked. Suddenly, they hit the ground and as the world went black, Rook heard her soul mate continue to sing, “Was blind but now I see…”

Struggling to open her eyes, Rook could feel heat all around her. She thought she could hear someone talking, but it sounded like it was coming from underwater. As she came back to herself, she realized that she was hanging upside down, and her head throbbed with blood rushing down to it. Giving her eyelids a firm command, she finally managed to open her eyes and examine the scene around her. Burke was hanging across from her, still unconscious, as were Pratt and Whitehorse in the front and Hudson next to her. Small fires were burning amongst the trees and by the helicopter. As Rook gazed at the swaying headset, she noticed that Joseph Seed was gone. Maybe he had taken the opportunity to flee?

“Are you there? Earl? Deputy Hudson? Deputy Pratt? Are you there?” Nancy’s voice came from the headset, worriedly repeating herself as she begged for a response from anybody. Rook knew she needed to answer. Then another sound began to drift through her ears.

“Amazing Grace…” Well, it looked like Joseph had not left the scene and was continuing to sing his very creepy hymn. Desperate to speak to Nancy and ask for help before he found her, Rook reached towards the headset, missing it once, twice, - “How sweet the sound,” - and then managed to grab it as it swung back. She moved to bring it back to her, but out of nowhere a hand grabbed her firmly by the wrist. Joseph Seed appeared out of the corner of her vision, and she turned her head to look his way. For a brief moment, Rook wondered how he managed to get out of the handcuffs, but he looked right at her, and everything else froze.

Joseph’s eyes were fixated completely on hers once again as he continued his hymn. Despite the bruises on his face from the crash, he looked as intimidating and in control as in the church. His powerful gaze prevented her from looking away. “That saved a wretch like me.” Nancy’s panicked questions continued, but Rook barely heard them. He pulled Rook’s hand away from the headset and quietly spoke to her, “I told you that God wouldn’t let you take me.” Hearing those words once again caused Rook to take a few panicked breaths, her bruised body resenting the movement. 

“Please, I need to know what’s going on,” Nancy’s terrified voice filtered through the headset again. Joseph’s eyes slowly lifted towards the equipment, and Rook’s followed along. She was confused as he reached for it and brought it to his face. Never breaking eye contact with her, Joseph answered Nancy’s call. “Dispatch?”

“Oh my God!”

“Everything is just fine here. No need to call anyone.” As he spoke, Rook could hear voices in the distance. They were singing the same goddamn hymn that had been haunting her since they approached the church. Rook was not sure if it was cultists singing the song as they neared the crash or if it was completely in her head.

“Yes, Father. Praise be to you.” Nancy’s voice was steady and reverent, the previous worry completely absent. Though she could not look away from the man in front of her, Rook felt shock run through her body. She had not really known Nancy well, not like she had been getting to know Hudson and Pratt. However, she had trusted her colleague and never expected a betrayal like this. The shock quickly faded and became a burning hate for the woman who had let them all walk into this trap. Then she was quickly brought back to the situation at hand when Joseph moved once more.

Joseph let the headset go and leaned even closer to the hanging junior deputy. “No one is coming to save you,” he whispered. Rook said nothing as a voice called out to him from outside the helicopter. She would not say a single word to him. Joseph’s Medusa-like stare finally left her as he stood up and turned away to leave the ruins of the vehicle. Her eyes followed him as he walked away even as she felt like she could breathe again.

Although seeing everything upside down was becoming disorienting, Rook could clearly see a truck pulled up and three Peggies walking towards the Father. “God has kept you under the shadow of His wings!”

Their hands reached out to Joseph begging for comfort, and he reached back. His followers' joy to see him safe was clear. “Everything is unfolding according to God’s plan. I am still here with you.” As more Peggies gathered, he stepped up on to the hood of the car. Hudson was coming to, but Rook’s focus remained on Joseph. “The First Seal has been broken! The Collapse has begun! And we will take what we need. We will preserve what we have.” Rook managed to tear her gaze away to see Burke coughing and beginning to move around across from her. She could not look at him long. Once again, Rook turned her head toward Joseph speaking to his flock. “And we will kill all those who stand in our way!” That sounded bad. “And these, the harbingers of doom will see the truth.” That sounded worse. Joseph’s voice rang out as he raised his arms, “BEGIN THE REAPING!” And that sounded terrifying.

“We gotta get out outta here,” Burke repeated weakly. Hudson began to struggle against her seatbelt. Cultists grabbed her and pulled her out. Rook grabbed at her feet trying to keep Hudson close, but she was unable to stop them. Pratt and Whitehorse in the front of the helicopter were also pulled out of the wreckage. One Peggie reached for Rook, but suddenly a flame rose and prevented him from grabbing her.

Joseph’s voice rang out once more. “Let them burn. It is God’s will. This is their punishment.” Rook wondered if she called out to him, if she said whatever words lay upon his skin, if he would order his followers to brave the flames to take her or if he would still leave her to burn. She held her tongue, refusing to ask a man like him for help. She looked straight ahead once more and saw that Burke had managed to free himself. Without hesitation he made his way out of the helicopter, leaving her behind. Her not particularly high opinion of him plummeted even further. She turned to her right one more time, looking through the growing flames toward Joseph who looked sedately back at her.

Fuck him, Rook decided. Fuck him and fuck his crazy ass cult too. She would get out of this mess and survive solely to prove him wrong. She did not give a shit if it was God’s will or Joseph’s will that she burn, but she refused to die here. She struggled with her seatbelt and finally managed to undo it after a few tries. She roughly fell to the ground and rolled out of the burning chopper. She unsteadily rose to her feet as she heard yelling behind her.

“Whoa, whoa, hey, she’s getting away!” Shots quickly followed the exclamation, and her feet began to move on their own toward the woods. A strange sense of calm began to fill her, unlike the stress and panic of the last half hour. It was a calm she had never truly experienced, usually always filled with doubts or anxiety about her life and decisions. But for the first time she knew without a doubt what she was going to do. She had to run. She had to escape. And then she was going to do her best to make her soul mate’s life as miserable as he had just made hers.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rook tries to escape with Burke and ends up meeting a friendly neighborhood doomsday prepper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo... I'm sorry this took me longer than expected. But you're getting two chapters so yay! 
> 
> I actually had most of this written weeks ago, but I just kinda struggled getting it finished and out there. Lots of self doubt. Plus, it kinda morphed into something different than I was originally planning. I was thinking I'd have Joseph's encounter with John at the end of the second chapter but I wanted to actually write about Rook's character and work on her relationships with others. Like Burke, Whitehorse, Dutch, etc. So there's actually some tension about what to do about her mark later in the story. There's gotta be people and relationships pulling her away from Joseph and his family. Otherwise she'd just skip off into the sunset with him hahaha. So yeah... that's kinda what happened here. 
> 
> And no lie, the game itself has kinda pissed me off lately. My weapons that came with my gold edition are disappearing from my weapon wheel every time I load my game or die, and I was unable to get one of the outfit rewards even though my community got them. I emailed Ubisoft support but still haven't heard anything :( So I accidentally took out some of that frustration on my fic. If anyone else is having either of these issues, let me know if you managed to get a fix!
> 
> There's a lot of dialogue from the game, but I also finally got Rook talking and added her responses and also some original conversations. I hope to add more of that as the story goes on. Especially once it goes off the rails.
> 
> Anyway hope y'all enjoy!

Rook sprinted through the woods, crashing through bushes and stomping flowers underfoot. Adrenaline drove her forward, allowing her to ignore the bruises and pain from the crash. The shots behind her were beginning to fade, but she knew she had to be on her toes. As she ran, she noticed that her gun must have been lost or taken by Joseph during the crash. She was defenseless, so any mistakes would end with her either dead or in the cult’s grasp. She was not sure which of those would be worse.

Out of nowhere, she heard a voice up ahead. She did not recognize it as Burke’s so odds were it belonged to a Peggie. She skidded to a stop and crouched low to the ground. Moving slowly and as quietly as she could manage, Rook crept closer to the mystery person in the distance.

An armed Peggy stood a few feet before her. “Nothing here so far. If I see anything, I’ll let you know.” When the cultist was finished talking, he put the radio on his belt and turned toward the ramshackle building. Rook took a deep breath. And then another and another. This was her chance. He had no idea she was here. She could knock him out, take his gun, and continue her escape. 

Creeping towards the cultist, she grabbed a pipe leaning up against a pile of wood. Standing up from her crouch, Rook swung the pipe with all her strength at the man’s head. The pipe hit his skull with a “thunk,” and the cultist fell to the ground. Rook was unsure if the man was dead or alive but could not bring herself to care. All that mattered was that he was no longer a threat. She grabbed the handgun that had fallen beside him and also took the time to go through his pockets, looking for ammo, cash, or anything else useful. After finding a bit more ammo and spare money in the run-down mill, she decided to keep on moving. Best not to spend too much time in one place.

Rook could see a bonfire in the distance with a couple Peggies standing nearby. “Hello? Anyone hearing me? Hello? It’s Burke... Hello?” Rook looked down to her new radio. Burke’s tinny voice continued. “I think I lost them. I see a trailer next to a long bridge. I’m going to try to get inside. If anyone’s still out there… Listen, if anyone’s still alive…” Burke never finished his sentence, and the radio went silent. Shit, if she had heard it, then every Peggie with a radio had as well. With a sigh, Rook began moving again, giving the Peggies at the fire a wide berth. Even if he wasn’t her favorite person, she did not want to leave the man to the cultists. 

Within a few minutes she made it to the trailer Burke had described. She opened the back door, and Burke immediately rushed forward to attack her. She did not struggle, only holding her hands up. The marshall quickly realized it was her and backed off to apologize. “Jesus Christ, Rook! I’m sorry. I thought they got you! Come on… come on.” Although Rook was tempted to sass back that if the cult had gotten her it would have been partly due to his abandoning her at the helicopter, she stayed silent and followed him through another door.

“C’mon! Check the room, Rook.” The marshall sounded much less confident and much more scared than he had just an hour before when they were making their way to arrest Joseph Seed. This night had clearly gone the exact opposite of what he expected, and the man was shaken as a result. The blood spatter on his face also suggested he had run into resistance on his way to the trailer, which must have been another surprise. She followed his order and looked into a bedroom at the end of the hall. Other than the multitude of Eden’s Gate photos on the wall, there was nothing off in there.

“Clear!” She shouted out to the marshall. She returned to Burke, who was going though the main room of the trailer. 

“Oh Jesus! I had no idea. Fuck!” He turned to the wall and pointed to a framed photo. It depicted the Joseph Seed and the other three figures from the church when she had arrested the preacher. Joseph sat in the middle while the others surrounded him, a twisted family photo. “We’re putting this whole family away. All of ‘em. Fucking lunatics!” Burke spat out and threw the photo on the table, shattering the glass. As he spoke, the man seemed to be regaining his confidence.

He handed her a weapon and began strategizing. “Alright, here’s what we’re gonna do. There’s a road out there. We’re gonna take it. We’re gonna head northeast. It’s probably only a few hours back to Missoula. And then we’re gonna come back here with the goddamn National Guard and take out these-“

“Do you really think the cult is going to let us go that easily?” she questioned, her disbelief clear in her tone. She really doubted Joseph Seed was going to let them just drive out of the county. Burke looked a little surprised by her question, and she realized she had just talked back to what was technically her superior. Before he could respond, they both heard voices outside the trailer.

“They came around this way! Check the trailers!” The Peggies had found them.

“Ok…shhh….” Burke shrugged his head towards the back window, directing her to position herself there. Right when she did a rock burst through the window and shots quickly followed. They had been spotted. 

Rook returned fire, aiming for the cultists whenever they rose from cover. Burke ran outside, shooting at the Peggies as well. After crouching down by a Peggie body, he shouted out to her, “I got the keys for the truck! Cover me!” She followed his command and shot cultist after cultist. They just seemed to run endlessly out of the woods. After having a bit of trouble, she finally heard the car start and the marshall call out to her, “C’mon, Rook! We’re going!” He quickly began honking the horn at her to incite her to hurry.

Somewhat surprised the marshall had even waited for her, Rook fired a few shots, sprinted to the truck, and quickly leapt inside. Burke quickly pressed down on the gas pedal, and the truck sped down the dirt road while the Peggies they left behind continued to shoot their way. Rook shot at a few Peggies in front while Burke crashed through a chain link fence. He made a right on the road and began driving over the Henbane River.

“You ok?” Rook nodded in response, and Burke continued, “Nice work back there! I’d be dead if it weren’t for you. We gotta get back, but we gotta be smart. We don’t know who we can trust. Fucking Nancy” Burke sneered. 

“Fucking Nancy,” Rook repeated. It was a bit strange to be in complete agreement with the overconfident marshall who had led the department into this mess, but she understood his anger towards the woman. She felt it too. They were both determined to take out the cult, and Nancy was clearly a part of it. It was still a shock that a woman who regularly brought baked goods to work and was always ready to share a story about her children was happy to send them into a trap.

“Oh no… Oh no…” Rook quickly saw what was upsetting the marshall. A huge group of Peggies and their trucks lay ahead, an impromptu but effective roadblock. They were obviously waiting for them. “They got the roads blocked!”

“Shit,” Rook muttered. She lifted her gun back up and began to shoot at the Peggies. As she shot, she realized she had fired her gun more tonight than she had in her entire career. A Peggie fired a flare into the air, marking their position for the rest of the cult to see. The rest returned her fire. Burke made a left, but another roadblock was waiting for them down the road.

The man made the decision to go off road, weaving between railroad tracks and train cars. He directed Rook to the dynamite in the back. Luckily there was a lighter in the box, along with four sticks of the explosive. Now Rook had never actually touched dynamite before in her life, so the first stick she threw came closer to blowing off her own fingers and failed to harm any of the Peggies’ trucks. Her second attempt worked and blew up one of the trucks, but the remaining Peggies fearlessly continued to chase them. With the two remaining sticks, she managed to take down another truck, but for every car she took down or cultist she shot, two more seemed ready to take their place.

A cry from Burke jolted her attention away from their pursuers. “Is that a fucking plane? Don’t you tell me they have fucking air support!” Burke yelled. For the second time during their drive, Rook and Burke were on the same page. “What the fuck mothering fuck?” she exclaimed as Burke tried to avoid the plane’s shots. Rook brought her body back into the cab of the truck, reluctant to have half her body sticking out as a plane tried to destroy their car. 

Rook could hardly believe her eyes. The sheer firepower of the cult was overwhelming. They really had been preparing for this day for years, and it was clear that Burke and Rook were outmatched. Hell, they had been screwed as soon as the helicopter touched down in front of Joseph’s compound. Rook thought back to Joseph’s final words in the church and wondered if this would have happened had she refused to cuff him. No doubt that would have opened a whole new can of worms, but maybe her friends would have avoided capture by the cult.

A bullet shattered the side mirror and violently yanked her out of those reflective thoughts. She shot back at two men riding an ATV, hitting the driver in the shoulder and causing the vehicle to veer off the road. The plane made a second pass at them, not caring that it was shooting down Peggies as well. 

Burke continued to drive, but at every turn more Peggies appeared. After another roadblock, they turned left and headed towards another bridge. She recognized it as one that led into Holland Valley, close to Rae Rae’s Pumpkin Farm. Another flare shot off in the distance, and next thing she knew Burke was shouting that something was incoming. Something blew up in front of them, and the truck went careening off the bridge. Rook’s head slammed into the dashboard, and for a few moments the world went black. When she snapped out of it, the car was already filled with water

Rook reached out to Burke, but lost consciousness again. The next thing she saw was Burke swimming away. She was actually vaguely surprised even as the world faded away again. She thought defending him at the trailer and then covering his ass during their frenzied escape attempt might have made him actually care if she lived or died. Instead he was leaving her to die in yet another crashed vehicle. If she was going to survive this, she would have to save herself.

Much like in the downed chopper earlier, Rook struggled with her escape. She managed to swim out the window and tried to pull her body through the water to the light above. Yet again everything faded away, but when she woke up, she was on sand. Looking across the water, she saw she was a good distance away from the bridge. Peggies were shining lights onto the water and shoreline, searching for her and the marshall. She could hear them call out to each other as they looked.

Unfortunately for the marshall, they found him quickly. Though Burke tried to intimidate the Peggies, they did not hesitate. She heard a smack in the distance and thought she heard something about a pilgrimage. However, her attention was rapidly turned to the figure holding a gun who appeared above her. As the man bent down to pick her up, she heard the cultists continue to search for her. 

“My children…” She could hear Joseph’s voice echoing from a radio or speaker somewhere as the man carried her away from the shore. “We must give thanks to God. The day I have prophesied to you has arrived.” The world faded in and out, but she could still hear her soulmate. She smiled tiredly at the sound, barely registering the actual words, only focusing on the gentle rise and fall of his voice. “Everything I’ve told you has come true… The authorities who tried to take me from you are now in the loving embrace of my Family…save for one.” She saw steel stairs leading down into the ground. This time when her surroundings turned black, they stayed that way for a long time.

Waking up, Rook could still hear Joseph’s message and for a moment he thought he must be nearby just waiting for her to wake up, “But the wayward soul will be found. They will be punished, and in the end, they will see our glorious purpose.” She noticed that he actually sounded much more scratchy now. He was not there, but he probably was talking about her, which was slightly worrying. But the more pressing matter was her zip tied hands keeping her bound to a cot. She pulled at them, but she could do nothing to actually free herself. A man stood in front of the radio with his back turned to her. An American flag hung on the concrete wall in front of him, along with framed pictures and maps.

“I am your Father, You are my children. And together, we will march to-“ The man abruptly shut off the radio and turned to her. She did not recognize him, but he did not look like a member of the cult. He let out a small grunt of annoyance as he looked at her.

“You know what that shit means? It means the roads have all been closed. It means the phone lines have been cut. It means there’s no signals getting in and out of this valley. But mostly, it means we’re all fucked,” the man sighed. Rook was shocked. Could the cult really have isolated the entire county so quickly? That meant aid would be extremely slow to arrive. That is if anyone even realized they were in need of help. 

“The goddamn Collapse.” She remembered hearing Joseph mention it when he commanded his forces to begin what he called “The Reaping” but had no idea what it was. “They all think the world’s coming to an end now. They’ve been waiting for it for years. Waiting for somebody to come along and fulfill their prophecy and kick off their goddamn Holy War. Well, you sure as shit kicked.” The man was clearly frustrated with the chaos that had come thanks to the attempted arrest of the cult leader.

“I was doing my job. Joseph Seed has hurt people. He deserves to go to jail.” She would not let this guy guilt trip her even if he had saved her life. She may have wondered if the decision to go through with the arrest was the right one, but she did not want to hear from someone who had not been stared down by Joseph Seed in that dark and eerie church. 

The man did not reply to her comment for a few moments; He looked down at her as if weighing his options. “The smartest thing for me to do would just be to hand you over.” Rook’s breath caught in her throat at his words. Being sold out to the cult after her miraculous escape just might break her. She would be in Joseph’s grasp or in the “loving care” of one of the members of his Family. The man must have seen the dread in her eyes because he looked away with a muttered curse. Then he stood up, took out his pocket knight, and cut the zip tie binding her to the bed.

“Get out of that uniform. We need to burn it. There’s some fresh clothes there. When you get changed, you come and see me. We’ll see if we can un-fuck this situation.” With another deep sigh, the man walked out of the room. 

Rook looked down at the pile of clothes she had been directed to. She grabbed a pair of blue jeans, a dark maroon flannel shirt, and a white tank. Her mark was just above her pants line, and she felt more secure with two layers covering it up. She began to take off her uniform, but when she removed her shirt, she paused. She looked down at the now-black letters. “God will not let you take me.” She had spent years worried about the situation in which she would hear those seven words, and the reality had been far worse than any nightmare. A delusional cult leader leading a bloody takeover of an entire county had never even been on the spectrum of the many possibilities she had imagined since childhood. 

Still, her fingers reached out to trace over the letters as she had done countless times in the past, looking for comfort as she always had. Just before she touched her skin, she pulled her fingers away. Rook did not want to take comfort in the words of the man who had taken her friends and left her to die. She turned to the nearby first aid kit and grabbed an ace bandage. She quickly wrapped it around her hips and pinned it in place, covering up the mark. It would be out of sight out of mind.

Once she was dressed, Rook took a glance at herself in the mirror. Out of her uniform she no longer screamed “law enforcement”, but she knew anonymity would not last long. Rook’s desire to fuck up her soulmate’s life was still going strong, and there was no way to do that without exposing herself. She would quickly become even more of a target, and a change of clothes would not do much to fix that. Pulling her loose hair into a ponytail, she nodded and left the room to meet back up with her rescuer.

Judging by look of the place and the stairs going down into the ground that brought her here, Rook assumed she was in some kind of bunker. If so, it was the largest she had been in. 

Not that she had actually been in many bunkers. Or even basements. Still, there were multiple rooms, including a small medical center, and plenty of beds. Rook wondered if this bunker had been built for more than one lone man. 

Rook could hear him as she walked down the hall. It sounded as if he was speaking to someone on the radio. “This is Dutch. Eli! I say again this is Dutch!” So that was his name. It sounded familiar, but Rook was distracted when she walked into his control room.

Rook immediately noticed the “wall of crazy” filled with notes and pictures describing the cult’s rise and methods. She wondered if Sheriff Whitehorse had gathered as much information or if his desire to avoid the conflict had kept him from doing so. Four pictures were the centerpieces of the collage. One, of course, was Joseph Seed’s, while the other three displayed the ones who had stood and watched Joseph’s arrest. Looking at their names, Rook learned she had been correct in her assumption that they were Joseph’s siblings: John, Jacob, and Faith Seed. The Baptist, the Soldier, and the Siren. Since she had minimal knowledge about the cult and the people leading it, she took the time to read Dutch’s descriptions of each member of the Seed family.

Dutch’s attention turned to her after no one answered his call. “Good. You found something that fits. I didn’t properly introduce myself back there. Most folks call me Dutch.” 

It suddenly hit Rook where she had heard of the name before. She had listened to the sheriff speak of Dutch Roosevelt occasionally. He did not interact much with other citizens of the county, but his doomsday preparation lifestyle was well-known. It was not too out of the ordinary as she had heard of dozens around the county who had built their own small bunkers filled with supplies should a catastrophe ever arise. He was the only one who gotten in trouble with the law about his methods though. Something about the right to collect rain water or something. Rook also remembered Hudson mentioning that the man shared her view that the cult had been allowed to grow too dangerous. Time had definitely proven them to be correct. 

"You can call me Rook," she replied to Dutch's introduction. He nodded and continued. 

“I’ve been trying to piece together what’s happening up top. It ain’t good. You’ve been out for a couple days thanks to almost drowning in Bliss-contaminated waters. Little I can gather is that your partners are alive,” Rook smiled to hear that her friends were safe, and not even Dutch’s pessimistic “for now” that quickly followed his announcement could bring her down. “Seems they’ve been split up. Each one handed off to a different member of Joseph’s Family.” Well, of course the cult would not make this easy for her. 

“I have to find them! The only reason I’m not where they are is dumb luck.” It was true. It was luck that the fire from the crashed helicopter prevented her capture. It was luck she was not captured in the forest. It was luck that she drifted to the safe shore of the river opposite of where the Peggies had found Burke. And it was luck Dutch had found her before anyone else. 

“You want ‘em back. I get it. I got friends that been taken too. Problem is there ain’t no help coming. Nobody knows what’s going on here, and they won’t know until it’s too late.”

“But the federal government sent in a marshall to arrest Joseph Seed. Won’t they send more people in once we don’t show up with him or when they don’t hear from us?” In Rook’s mind, the ideal situation would be that she would only have to hold out on her own for a day or two while waiting for some kind of backup to arrive to help wipe out the cult and save the county. Regrettably, Dutch was quick to dash her hopes.

“Don’t think we’re that lucky, Dep. First of all, if you’ve been paying attention to the news, you know the government’s got a lot more to worry about than some cult in the middle of nowhere, Montana. World’s gettin’ to be a scary place. Seems more and more countries are ready to bomb the shit out each other, ours included. Any conflict can go from minor to nuclear at the push of the button, and we’re seeing a lot of conflict out there nowadays. The only reason the government did anything about the cult in the first place was because of the public outcry after those videos. But odds are people have already moved on to some other scandal or tragedy. Second, there’s the problem of John Seed.”

“John Seed?” She glanced at the photo of the youngest Seed on the wall. From what Dutch had written he was the cult’s recruiter and supposedly the most sadistic of the bunch. But what could he do against the United States government?

“John’s an unfortunate combination of smart, charming, and psychotic. He’s been getting his siblings and the cult out of legal trouble almost as long as they’ve been in Hope County. Heard he was some hotshot attorney back in Atlanta. Now he’s one of Joseph’s heralds,” here Dutch rolled his eyes,” but he brings out the law degree whenever big brother needs it. He’ll probably have some way to reach out to give his own explanation of what happened. Probably say you and your team were ‘overzealous’ or some shit like that. He’s good at what he does, and no one else can contact anyone to contradict his story, so they’ll accept it. Plus, from what I’ve heard he’s got plenty connections and lots of blackmail material on a fuckton of people. So even on the off chance someone wanted to help, he would stop them. Hell, blackmail’s probably why it took a goddamn viral video for someone to actually get off their ass and try to do the bare minimum against the cult.”

Rook could feel herself deflate as Dutch spoke. “So you’re saying that no one really cares about us out here, and this could all just be swept under the rug until it’s convenient for them to handle it?”

“Exactly, Rook. If we want the cult gone, we’re gonna have to take care of them ourselves. There’s gotta be people out there willing to fight back against this cult. We just…We need to show them how. We need to build us a resistance. So the first thing we’re gonna do is get control of this island. Once we got some breathing room, we can figure out what’s coming next.”

Rook barely thought about it before she nodded. “Alright, Dutch. I’ll help in whatever way I can.” He had risked his life to save hers and had not handed her over to the cult, so she owed him this much at least. Plus, bringing others into the fight would make rescuing her own people easier. 

Dutch gave her a small smile. “There’s a gun and a map in the safe over there. Take ‘em. I’ll give you a call on the radio once you get your bearings.”

Rook glanced over at Dutch’s cult wall, deliberately avoiding looking at the picture of Joseph. She walked to the safe and grabbed the gun and map, as Dutch suggested.

“Thanks, Dutch.”

He nodded at her. “Be careful out there. It’s crawlin’ with Peggies. Those fuckers are willing to die for that psychopath that’s leading them.” Rook flinched slightly and knew by the slight narrowing of Dutch’s eyes that he had noticed. Hopefully he would just think it was nerves. That would be a completely normal reaction to walking out into the Montana wilderness in a county controlled by a doomsday cult. Nothing suspicious to see here. She gave Dutch a small wave and turned away before he said anything more. 

Within a day, she had managed to wipe out the cult’s presence on the tiny island. She saved a few people from cultists, blew up a couple of shrines, and took out an entire group of cultists that had set up camp at nearby ranger station. She sat outside one of the cabins as she waited for some people Dutch said he was calling to hold the building and was examining her new pair of binoculars she had found behind the counter in the station.

“So you’re really not worried that Joseph’s going to send in some Peggies to take back the island?”

“Nah, Deputy. I think Joseph and his damn Family are more focused on the rest of the county. There’s a few pockets holding out in the three regions, and I bet they’re not gonna want to take any of their people away from those fights. Especially once you show up out there. Now there’s one more thing to do before you’re done here. My CB radio is on the fritz, and I can’t reach anyone off this island. The radio tower on the south shore must be busted. Think you can take care of that for me?”

“Sure, Dutch. I’ve never fixed a radio tower in my life, but I can try.” Rook stood up and stretched her arms as she spoke.

Dutch chuckled and reassured her, “I can guide you through it, Deputy. Just make it there.”

A short jog later, Rook had reached the tower. “Please tell me I don’t have to climb up there.” Her stomach turned slightly at the thought.

“Sorry, Dep. You’re gonna have to do it. Scared of heights?”

“Not so much sacred of heights as hesitant to climb up a tower that is literally swaying in the wind without anything to keep me from falling.”

“Well, I won’t be making you climb up any other radio towers in the county. Just this one. Go up there and pull the switch. Should be yellow. You can’t miss it.”

“Goddammit.” Rook dragged her feet to the blue ladder and began her ascent. She could hear the structure creak and feel the slight movement in the wind.

“Try not to fall while you’re up there.” Dutch’s voice crackled from her radio, surprising her and causing her to almost jump out of her skin. Luckily her iron grip on the ladder kept her from plummeting to the ground.

“Oh no, I thought falling would be a hoot. You’ve shown me the light, Dutch,” Rook scoffed as she climbed. Finally, she made it to the top. She quickly pulled the switch, and Dutch quickly told her she had fixed the signal. Then he gave her a quick run-through of the cult’s takeover of Hope County. The Whitetail Mountains in the North had been taken over by Jacob Seed. He was the one training the cult’s soldiers, but a group called the Whitetail Militia was trying to hold out under the leadership of a man named Eli. The Henbane River was under the control of Faith Seed who drove people to insanity or to devout loyalty to the cult in a place called “The Bliss”, whatever that was. Finally John Seed had recently run through Holland Valley, stealing anything that could be useful and “recruiting” unwilling people to join the Project.

“I’d say head to the valley first. Faith and Jacob have been in their regions for a while, but John’s hold over Holland Valley is weaker. I trust your judgment though. I’ll keep you posted on anything I hear. Good luck, Deputy.” 

“Thanks, Dutch. For everything.” Rook softly replied. Just after she spoke the last of the fog cleared away, and Rook was struck by the view. After only a month in Hope County, she still was not used to the beauty of the area. She could see for miles in all directions, from the mountains in the north to the rolling hills and orchards in Holland Valley. Up here everything looked serene. The black columns of smoke that peppered the county were the only clue to the chaos going on down below. 

Joseph’s statue stood in the distance, his hand reached out towards her. Rook crossed her arms and spoke to it, “So I’m gonna ‘see your glorious purpose’, huh? In your dreams, asshole.” And with that she zip lined down the nearby wire, jogging towards the bridge off of Dutch’s island as soon as her feet hit the ground. She had her friends to save and a cult to fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're wondering where John's video was, I've moved it to the next chapter. There's nothing on the tower to watch the video on, and that bugged me, so I changed it. Let me know if you see any typos or mistakes. I'll be posting the next chapter right away!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rook takes a quick detour through the Henbane River and encounters all kinds of weird shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, y'all! Chapter 3's here too! Hope you guys enjoy!

Despite her eagerness to help her friends, Rook spent fifteen minutes at the bridge across the Henbane River, waffling back and forth about where to go. It was strange to think just a couple days ago she had been forced off this very bridge and plunged right into a fight for Hope County. Dutch had suggested she go to Holland Valley where John Seed was causing trouble, but she wondered if it would be better to check out the Henbane River area a bit before moving on. Virgil Minkler, the mayor, had been broadcasting over the radio that the jail was a safe haven for anyone who could reach it. If any of her friends had also managed to somehow escape from the cult that was likely where they would be. She knew it was unlikely, especially after what Dutch had told her, but he had not been able to give her specifics, so who knew?

Of course, she also wanted to see if Nancy had stuck around. If people in the area were grouping up at the jail, her coworker likely would have moved there as well. If no one had escaped from the cult like she had, there was nobody else at the jail who would know Nancy’s true loyalties. The jail may have unknowingly been harboring a double agent in their midst. Plus, that bitch had been responsible for the cult knowing they were coming. Rook did not believe Joseph had known from some prophecy given to him by God that they were on the way to arrest him. She remembered Nancy leaving the office to call with her family, but now Rook knew exactly which family she had been talking about. Without Nancy, he may not have been prepared for them, and the arrest may have gone smoothly. Her soulmate would be in a prison cell, rather than making himself overlord of the county.

With that thought in mind, Rook turned away from the bridge and began to walk along the river in the direction of the jail. She would make sure the jail was safe before moving on to Holland Valley.

After a few minutes, Dutch’s voice crackled up from her radio. “Deputy, see you crossed into the Henbane. Don’t trust anything you see, and sure as shit don’t believe a word that Faith says.”

Rook reached down for the radio and replied, “Don’t worry, Dutch. No way am I gonna buy into any of their bullshit. I’ve seen what they’re capable of. Also, I’m not planning on staying here long. Just gonna check in with the jail, and then go to the valley.”

Dutch let out a grim chuckle. “Alright, Dep. Sounds like a plan.” Rook thought he was finished, but he quickly returned to the radio. “Also, steer clear of those white flowers. They seem harmless, but they will fuck your shit up. If you don’t believe me, just wait until you come across some of those shamblin’ junkies… Cult calls ‘em Angels, but they will tear through you like shit through a goose.”

Rook had heard rumors about the so-called Angels, but she had never actually believed them. People so damaged by the cult’s Bliss that they were mindless slaves to the cult and feral to anyone outside of it seemed more like a ghost story to her. Hearing Dutch confirm their existence was a surprise, but she trusted him. “Understood, Dutch.”

As she walked south down the Henbane River, Rook made sure to keep off the actual road. Every so often trucks filled with Peggies raced down the cracked black asphalt. Once they were even chasing another car. If they saw her, no doubt every Peggie in the county would learn that she was definitely alive and in the area. They would know for sure soon enough, but hopefully she could make it to the jail before then. Just a short hike from the bridge, there was a building. Rook debated for a moment whether she should check it out for supplies, but when she noticed that it was some sort of outreach center for the cult, the decision was made. She made her way to the building, reading the vaguely ominous signs as she went. She was surprised to see no cultists around, but she supposed they were too busy securing the rest of the county to worry about a small building that no longer had any purpose. Eden’s Gate was finished with their pretenses of peaceful conversion.

Walking inside, her attention was immediately drawn to a portrait of her soulmate hanging over the counter. Even in the painting, he was wearing those garish yellow shades. After rolling her eyes, she looked away and focused on looking for anything useful. Emptying out the meager cash register, Rook gazed at the books lying on the table. There were multiple copies of a white book with the cross of Eden’s Gate inscribed gold on the front. She let out an inelegant snort as she opened it and read the title: The Book of Joseph. In her month in Hope County, she had head a bit about the book but never actually came across one. It was supposed to be the Project’s Bible, containing Joseph Seed’s beliefs and message. She idly flipped through the pages. It wouldn’t hurt to take it, Rook supposed. Know your enemy and all that. 

A small voice in her head contradicted her. Know your soulmate, you mean.

Rook shook her head violently and shoved the book into her pack. She would go through it later. Giving the room one more quick run through, including listening to a heartrending message of a wife pleading for the return of her husband and then her furious vow to make them pay if they did not, Rook lifted her pack back onto her shoulder and headed out to continue her walk to the jail. 

Her journey down the river was disturbing. Bloody corpses hung from bridges, thick columns of black smoke rose in the distance, and the cult’s graffiti marred just about every surface she passed. Trying to ignore it all, Rook soldiered on. After a few miles, she realized she was approaching Lorna’s Truck Stop, which she had driven by countless times while on the job. However, unlike the cult building she looted earlier, she could tell even from a distance that this one was crawling with Peggies. Dutch had told her about the cult’s outposts all over the county, and it looked like she had encountered her first one. Pulling out the binoculars the doomsday prepper had given her, Rook looked through them to examine the layout of the truck stop. She quickly spotted eight cultists, including a man positioned next to a mounted gun. If they shot at her with that, she would end up full of holes in mere seconds.

So the Peggies had twice the numbers here than there were at the small ranger station on Dutch’s island. When she had wiped out the cult members out at that location, she was able to draw one away with a rock to take him down, silently kill the one in the building, and take out the two remaining ones with quick shots to the head from behind. With eight cultists here, it would be much more difficult to pull off without getting spotted.

She looked down to her handgun and the semi-automatic rifle she had picked up from a dead cultist. Unfortunately, with her meager cash supply she had not been able to buy any silencers for her guns or a beautiful bow when she had encountered a friendly hunter with weapons for sale. She had nothing to make a stealthy attack, which she figured would be the more effective route instead of trying to go eight against one. Hell, looking at what seemed to be alarms spread throughout the outpost, it would likely turn into far more than eight if she was seen.

She moved closer to the outpost, using the bushes and trees to stay hidden and still torn between attempting to liberate the building or returning when she was better armed. The distant murmur from the speakers placed around the building cleared up as she approached. For the first time, she heard Faith Seed’s soft voice. 

“Trust in the Father. Believe in Him. Never lose Faith.” She must have caught the tail end of her speech because after a few moments, Joseph Seed replaced Faith on the speakers. Goosebumps rose on her skin as she listened to him once again. As much as she resented him and thought he was absolutely bonkers, he had a pleasant voice. However, as she listened to him, she quickly grew frustrated. Her soulmate sounded like an angry baby boomer. 

“Goddammit, universe, what the actual fuck? Not only is he a cult leader but he hates streaming? Like ninety percent of my free time is spent streaming. Made for each other my ass.” Rook muttered to herself. She realized her complaining was childish, but she felt justified. Making light of the situation was just about the only way to cope with what had happened. She had a feeling she would be cursing whatever force brought them together many times to come as she fought the cult.

As Joseph’s recording continued, Rook kept her eyes on the Peggies, waiting for a plan of attack to form. Nothing came. 

“Goddammit.” With a sigh she turned away from the outpost. She would turn east towards the jail. Checking in there needed to come first, and she could return here with better weapons for a stealth assault. If she continued picking up money from abandoned buildings and the bodies of cultists, she would probably be able to buy the bow in a few days. As she trudged away, Joseph’s self-assured voice followed her.

“I am your Father. And you are my children. And together we shall march to Eden’s Gate.” Rook huffed and began to jog, refusing to acknowledge any part of her that enjoyed the man’s calming tone.

She was so focused on ignoring the fading speakers, she did not realize what she had walked into, until the world began to shift around her. Sparkling white lights appeared in her vision, and the sounds of the wild around her were muffled. Beautiful white flowers surrounded her, and she belatedly remembered Dutch’s warning from just a little while ago.

“Shit,” she mumbled, but even that sounded like it was coming from underwater. She ran through the patch of flowers and swore she could hear a distant giggle. Just as she escaped the plants, she slammed right into a body. They both tumbled to the ground, and when she got a good look at the figure, Rook gasped and scrambled away.

It was difficult to tell the person was a woman, with her shaved head, half-covered face, and shapeless, dirty, off-white clothes. She was clearly a member of the cult, judging by the cross on the surgical mask that was strapped to her face. The cultist let out a chilling scream and bolted towards her, a gardening hoe in hand. Rook managed to dodge the tool when it was swung at her and followed up with a punch to the Peggie’s face. It did not stop the woman in the slightest, and she swung her weapon again. Luckily, Rook ducked and avoided the blow, but she knew she had to handle this cultist quickly. Who knew whether more would be drawn by their crazed shouts? Rook pulled out her handgun and shot the woman two times in the chest as she ran at her again with her tool. 

But it did not stop the woman. She kept moving, ignoring the gunshots. Stunned, Rook could not move fast enough to dodge the next attack completely, and pain ran up her left side from the glancing blow dealt to her. She did not think her ribs were broken, but she’d end up with worse if she did not deal with the cultist soon. She raised her gun one more time and emptied the clip into woman; the shots staggered the frenzied Peggie, but it was not until she was shot in the head that she actually went down.

Rook slowly approached the body. Nudging it with the toe of her boot, she sighed in relief when the woman failed to miraculously get up and attack her once more. She checked the pockets of the dirty pants, finding some kind of oil and a few dollars. The deputy grimly realized this must have been one of the “Angels” Dutch had warned her about. They were stranger and more terrifying than she had imagined, more lives twisted into something grotesque by her soulmate.

She stood there for a moment, still trying to catch her breath from the struggle for her life when she heard shouts coming from the distance. She realized she had not made it far enough away from the outpost to have the shots go unnoticed. Sprinting away, Rook made a promise to herself to make a much more serious effort to avoid the flowers and the Angels that tended to them.

The rest of her hike was much less dangerous. The sun was close to setting as she spotted the sign marking the Hope County Jail. However, it looked like finishing the final leg of her journey would be more difficult than expected. Three white pick-up trucks marked with the cross Eden’s Gate were parked in front of the jail, and cultists were shooting up at figures on the wall.

Rook grabbed her gun and began to shoot at their backs. Since they were focused on the people in front of them, her shots took the Peggies by surprise. Facing fire from both sides, it only took a few minutes to kill the remaining cultists. Once they were dead, she cupped her hands and shouted up to the people on the wall. “I’m a Hope County Junior Deputy. Can I come in?” Her statement appeared to surprise the defenders, but after turning to speak to someone on the ground below, they quickly waved her inside.

Inside the walls, people were tending to the injured and reloading their weapons. They were undoubtedly expecting another attack to come. In the chaos, Rook noticed a familiar face that looked shocked to see her. “Holy shit, Rook?”

“Sheriff? You’re here? I thought the Peggies grabbed you.” Rook was pleasantly surprised see that someone had actually managed to escape the cult. Whitehorse approached her with a small smile under his mustache. He reached out to her and patted her shoulder.

“You really saved our bacon. They’ve been throwing themselves at these walls for days. Just won’t let up.” He was clearly exhausted from the siege. “Really kicked open a hornet’s nest.” Rook could tell the man regretted ever meeting Cameron Burke and receiving news of the federal warrant for Joseph Seed. 

“Are you-“ Rook did not get the chance to finish her question before a sentry announced incoming trucks and then quickly fell to the ground with a bullet in his body.

The Sheriff quickly took control of the situation once again, “Dammit! Medic!” He quickly turned to her and ordered her to the wall. She immediately followed his command and climbed up the ladder.

Rook stood on the wall with the others and shot at any Peggies that approached. She was forced to run all over to defend the different areas from attack. The Peggies were clearly fearless in their assault, shouting for their Father and ignoring the dead bodies of their comrades. When some cultists made it inside, she jumped down to the ground to take care of them. She was brought back to the wall to destroy a tanker before it could destroy their gate. A few shots from her rifle managed to do the trick.

The skirmish seemed to last for hours, but she knew it could not have been more than fifteen minutes. After the tanker was blown up, the Peggies began their retreat. Most were killed as they fled, but a few managed to escape. Rook felt the tension and adrenaline drain from her body as the cultists became specks in the distance.

She clambered back down the ladder, going much more slowly than she had climbed up it. She could already hear Whitehorse issuing commands to prep for the next attack. She approached him and silently followed as he worked his way through the disorder. 

When she opened the door for an injured fighter and the ones carrying him, he turned to her with a small smile on his face. “Ya know? I was gonna retire last year. Was worried I’d get bored.” Rook could not help but let out a tired scoff at his words. She followed the group inside. One woman wanted an introduction while Virgil Minkler, a man she had never actually met but had heard of, made some commotion about cursing and buttons. Whitehorse clearly enjoyed their interaction but swiftly became focused once he stepped foot into their infirmiry. 

“This is one of my deputies.” Whitehorse introduced her, once again raising a hand to her shoulder. Rook blushed a bit at the attention of the other two and the clear pride in the sheriff’s voice. She had grown to like her boss in the past month, and the 

“I thought you said your deputies were taken,” the woman replied, slight suspicion evident in her voice. Her eyes did not leave Rook’s form as if she were searching for some way to determine whether the deputy had joined the cult in the time she had been missing.

“This one wasn’t. I imagine she’s been giving Eden’s Gate a hell of a time, if the rumors I’ve heard about Dutch’s Island are true.” Rook’s blush grew slightly deeper, and she turned her gaze to the ground as she rubbed the back of her head. 

“Yeah, that was me.”

“Is that so?” She did not sound too impressed. “Well, I hope you plan on pitching in. No room for freeloaders.” With that, she pushed her way out of the room. Whitehorse only chuckled at her words. 

“Tracey’s alright once she gets to know you. She’s right about the work though. There’s plenty to be done around here. Just ask around. Good to have you back, Rook” He gave her a smile, patted her shoulder, and left the room.

Virgil smiled at her, handed a pin to her, and then with a quick “OK, then,” walked away. Rook stared down at the Cougar pin, a bit bemused by the man’s exit. She pinned the button to her shirt, happy to be a part of the group’s fight against Eden’s Gate.

After he walked away, Rook went to follow him out the door, but her vision filled with white lights and faint whispers. “What in the hell?” She mumbled, reaching out her hand to chase the lights. Before she could touch one, they faded away. But a voice rang through her head. It was the same voice she had briefly heard while passing Lorna’s Truck Stop: Faith Seed’s voice. 

“I see you searching, but you look lost. When I was younger, I spent years searching. I was a rat in a maze always chasing the same wedge of rancid cheese. The Father was the first person who helped me realize there is a world beyond the maze. A world that doesn’t take, that doesn’t devour. It’s a world that gives, that loves. It’s a world that welcomes you with open arms. I’m not searching anymore I’m here to share His word. Come see the world beyond the maze.” Faith’s tone was soothing, but it was extremely off putting to hear the cultist’s voice in her head. How was this even possible?

“Rook, why are you just standing there? You hurt?” Whitehorse had returned to the small clinic where she had been frozen while Faith spoke to her. The older man was clearly worried, and she thought about telling him that she had just heard Faith Seed speaking despite not being anywhere near her. 

“No, I’m ok, sir,” Rook lied. As much as she liked her boss, she did not quite want to admit that she was hallucinating about a crazy cultist. However, the older man seemed to have noticed her hesitation. 

“You sure, Rookie? You look a bit out of it.” 

“Just got lost in thought, Sheriff. It’s been a long couple of days.”

Whitehorse let out a small chuckle but his face became serious. “That’s one way of putting it. Gonna be honest, Rook. Never thought I’d see you again.” His eyes became distant, and it seemed as if he was not really looking at her. “After the crash I… I just remember fog. And then walking in a field. Then I saw her. You’ve seen her too, haven’t you, Rook?” The deputy was confused for a moment before he continued, “Or at least heard her?” She knew then who he was speaking about. Faith Seed. Her eyes darted to the ground out of shame for lying to the man. He obviously knew what she had been trying to hide. “Whatever she says, whatever she promises, it’s a lie. Stay away from her, or you’ll end up just like the marshall.” That caught Rook’s attention. She wondered what had become of Burke to make Whitehorse use him as a cautionary tale. “The Bliss… it makes you forget. Makes you feel free. You just want to stay there forever. But it isn’t real. None of it. If Virgil and Tracey hadn’t found me, I’d still be out there, swimmin’ in a sea of Bliss. A prisoner in my own head. Those two saved my life. These Cougars… they’re good people, but they’re hanging on by a thread. We’ve gotta help them, Rook. No one else will.”

Rook nodded, “I’ll do whatever they need, Sheriff.” Whitehorse nodded back and made his way to the door. She followed him out, doing her best to force Faith’s whispers out of her mind.

“Wait, sir, I nearly forgot! What about Nancy? Is she here?”

Sheriff Whitehorse’s small smile fell off his face and was replaced by a melancholy look. His entire face seemed to droop down, even his mustache. “She was for a bit, but once Tracey and Virgil brought me in unconscious, she ran off. Still can’t believe she was part of the cult. I’ve known her over a decade, Rook, and I never even suspected.” 

“I’m sorry, Sheriff.” Rook did not know what else to say. She had no idea what it was like to have a friend betray you like that, and she felt like there was little she could do to help.

“Nothing for you to be sorry about. She’s the one I’m pissed with. That damn Joseph Seed, too.” The sheriff let out a long sigh. “I’d give just about anything for the cult to have picked some other county to move to. Ever since the Seeds arrived, this place has been different. Less than what it was before. Everyone used to be friends ‘round here, and then the cult came and divided us.”

Rook felt a pang of guilt. She knew she was not responsible, but it was still her soulmate out there making hundreds, maybe even thousands, of innocent people suffer in the name of his delusions.

The sheriff forced a smile back on his face. “Let’s go, Rook. You should introduce yourself and see what people might need. It may be crazy out there, but it’s still our job to protect the people of this county.”

Rook nodded and followed the man out of the makeshift hospital. She met with members of the Cougars as the sheriff suggested. Virgil wanted her to clear the water treatment plant of cultists and stop their contamination of the county’s water supply with Bliss. Tracey apologized for her rough introduction and suggested she bring down Joseph’s statue if she wanted to send a message to Eden’s Gate. Whitehorse also told her about a prison ship where captives were tortured by the cult and their missing veterinarian/doctor. She was also instructed to free any hostages she came across and to do her best to destroy any cult property. Random Cougars here and there would give her information on outpost locations and stashes to loot. The list of tasks was almost overwhelming. She could only imagine what else would need to be done in the other two regions of Hope County.

Before she went to a cell to get some shut-eye, Whitehorse pulled her aside. With a friendly smile, he handed her some cash, hundreds of dollars worth. “I managed to find some money for you, Rook. I’m sure you’re gonna need it.”

“Sheriff, I can’t accept-“

Whitehorse interrupted her, “Consider it a thank-you for helping us out today. Or an advance on your salary. You were due a paycheck in a few days anyway.”

“I-thanks, sheriff.” Rook pocketed the money.

“You’re welcome, Rook. Just be sure to use it to kill some Peggies,” He chuckled and gave her a pat on the shoulder before heading to his own cell.

As Rook lay on the uncomfortable prison bed, she was surprised when she did not fall asleep within a few minutes. After the long hike to the jail and the subsequent fights, she would have figured that she would fall asleep near instantaneously. She thought of the book that was stuffed in her pack. Some pseudo-religious text might be enough to put her to sleep. She thought about retrieving it but had second thoughts as to what the people around here might think. It was not like she had much privacy in the cell and reading Joseph’s book would no doubt draw negative attention. Tracey in particular would probably be furious. She had a lot of justifiable anger towards the cult. Probably best to leave it for when she was on her own. With a sigh, she resigned herself to counting sheep. After an hour and many many sheep, she finally drifted to sleep. 

It seemed like mere minutes had passed when morning arrived. Rook ate breakfast with a few Cougars and stopped by the front desk where a woman had set up shop. Miraculously, the shopkeeper was selling the same bow that had caught her eye the other day. Thanks to the sheriff and the money she had scrounged up, she was able to buy it, ammo, and some food to take along as well. 

As she was packing her bag up, Dutch’s voice suddenly blasted from her radio. He sounded deadly serious. “Deputy, I’m picking up something new outta Holland Valley. It’s a broadcast from John. You need to see this.” 

Rook picked up the radio and answered back, “Alright, Dutch. I’m at the prison now. I’m sure there’s a tv somewhere.” She jogged around the jail for a couple of minutes before she found Whitehorse.

“Sheriff, Dutch says there’s a broadcast I need to see.” The older man nodded and turned to a nearby television set. He turned it on and John Seed turned to face the group gathered in front of the scree. He was standing in some kind of outdoor chapel, Bliss flowers lining the altar. With his light blue eyes and dark hair, he made for a handsome man, but the jagged scar on his chest marked him as a member of the cult. He also obviously enjoyed the attention of the camera and the followers who were with him. 

“We are all sinners. Every one of us. You. Me. Even the Father knows deeply of sin.” As he rubbed his hand in a circle against his chest, Rook noted that John Seed may not have had quite the same magnetic presence of his older brother, but it was clear he was a talented speaker. No doubt his years as a lawyer had helped. “It’s a poison that clouds our minds. What if I told you, you could be free from sin? What if I told you that everything you ever dreamed could come true? What if I told you that everything could be overcome if you embraced an idea.” Rook had been rolling her eyes at the self-help tone to the whole video, but the appearance of a woman standing to the side made her take the entire display seriously. She could see the slightly blurry form of Joey Hudson standing to the side, hands tied and tape over her mouth. “That freedom from sin can come form the power of just one word.”

“YES!” John raised his hands over him towards the sign above him to great applause, but Rook could no longer laugh at the spectacle. She could only lean closer to the screen, desperate to catch another glimpse of her friend. Her wish was granted as a Peggie pushed Hudson close to the youngest Seed brother. She could now clearly see the make-up running down her coworker’s face from tears.

“Yes, I am a sinner. Yes, I wish to be unburdened.” Rook clenched her fists and felt her nails bite into her palms as she watched Hudson flinch and close her eyes as John Seed held her by the arms. The woman had always been tough as nails, never willing to put up with anyone’s bullshit. But a touch from John had her terrified. Rook could not help but wonder what he had already put her through in a short time. “Yes, I must be redeemed.” Her cold anger only grew as she watched him lightly grab and then mockingly caress her throat. “If you’re watching this, know that you have been selected. You will be cleansed. You will confess your sins, and you will be offered atonement.” Rook knew without a doubt that he was speaking to her directly. Word of her presence at the attack on the jail had likely spread very quickly. “Don’t worry,” John held up his hand as if to comfort his audience and pointed towards her through the screen. “You don’t have to do anything. We’ll come for you. Welcome to Eden’s Gate.” With a grin, John turned and strode off screen.

After a few moments, the video fizzed out. But then John’s Seed face appeared again. The video was on repeat. The cult clearly wanted her to receive their message.

“We are all sinners. Every-“ Whitehorse stormed forward and slammed the power button on the tv set, forcing the screed back to black. All of the Cougars had gone silent during the video, and they remained quiet even after the television was turned off. The sheriff turned to face her. He was angrier than she had ever seen him with a fierce scowl on his face and a tight grip on the butt of the gun at his side. 

“Rook, you go to Holland Valley now. Take one of the cars in the lot. When you get to the valley, you do whatever you can to make John Seed’s life a living hell. Find Joey and save her. We’ll hold the fort here.” Sheriff Whitehorse spoke in a deathly calm tone, the fury clear under every word.

“Yes, sir.” With that Whitehorse stormed off, and Cougars began to whisper among themselves. Rook returned to her bag and packed everything up within a few minutes.

After saying her goodbyes, Rook left the jail to make her way to Holland Valley to go after John Seed and Joey Hudson. She found a car, managed to get it running, and sped out of the lot, intent on making it to Holland Valley as quickly as possibly. 

She did not make it more than a couple of miles before the white lights and whispers began again. The world began to blur and move around her. Rook slammed on the brakes and stumbled out of the car. She was barely able to move and quickly fell to the ground. Within a few seconds white smoke overtook her vision.

“Welcome to The Bliss.” The young woman in white from Joseph’s church and Dutch’s photos emerged from the smoke, and Rook knew she was face to face with Faith Seed. The herald blew into her face. Rook inhaled, Faith disappeared, and the world became entirely white once more.

“I know you’ve heard stories about me. That I’m a liar. A manipulator. That I poison people’s minds…” Faith drew out the words as she spoke, making the accusations against her sound laughable, and in her drugged state, Rook could hardly believe the woman speaking to her could possibly be as bad as she had heard. The white smoke blew away to show a beautiful open field as far as the eye could see with the occasional pond breaking up the grass. Faith walked out from the corner of her vision, as if she had always been right next to her. A blue butterfly flew by and landed on Faith’s shoulder. Faith grabbed Rook’s hand and pulled her along.

“Well, let me tell you a different story. A true story.” When Faith released her and turned to walk, Rook could not help but follow close behind, mirroring Faith’s outreached hands. Then Faith grabbed her and pulled her down to kneel on the ground together. “There once was a young woman who had been ostracized by her community. Bullied by friends. Abused by her family. She took to a needle for help. She was all alone. She wanted to die.” Rook could hear the pain in Faith’s voice and see the sorrow on her face. Pity welled up inside her for the girl.

“And then she met The Father.” A joyful smile overtook Faith’s solemn expression, and she began to run through the grass, Rook once again towed behind her. When Faith stopped, Rook could see Joseph’s statue in the distance. What had once looked so threatening before was now a comfort in this strange world. “He gave her hope and confidence. The Father showed her how special she was, that she was full of love and life.” Faith twirled in a circle as she spoke. “He gave her a new family. One that accepted her just as she was.” Faith’s hand reached out to stroke Rook’s face, and the deputy leaned into the gentle touch. Every word Faith spoke put her more and more at ease, and every touch soothed her. “The young woman no longer wished to die. She had been given purpose.” Faith spread her arms out and wings of white smoke grew from her back, and the girl floated up into the air. Rook tilted her head and stared at the wings. That was definitely unexpected, she thought to herself and could not help but let out a small laugh at the entire situation.

Faith smiled at her and reached out her hands once more. She grabbed onto the deputy’s hands, and Rook was lifted into the air as well. She knew she should be mystified by the levitation, but in this place it seemed perfectly natural. 

“One day, the Father brought her here. He asked if she had faith in him. He asked if she would be willing to die for him.” The duo rose higher and higher as Faith spoke. “The young woman, who very much wished to live, was scared.” Faith laughed once more and led the way through the air to the statue.

“The Father told her this was her test. He would have faith in her if she had faith in him. So she closed her eyes and leapt.” Faith let go of Rook’s hands, and the woman fell the short distance down to the book. “The Father kept his word. The path to Eden is clear to those who have Faith.” She was dully surprised to see Cameron Burke standing on the statue. Whitehorse had mentioned the marshall had been sent to Faith, but Rook had not expected to actually see the man. He looked at peace with his otherworldly surroundings, and she could not help but wonder if she wore a similar expression.

“Walk the path.” Burke held his hand out to her and then without hesitation turned and fell forward off the statue. As he fell, Faith vanished in a plume of smoke.

Though she had disappeared, Faith shared some final words with Rook, “You must have faith. Let go. Let your faith be your guide. Leap. Accept the Word of the Father into your heart.” She made it sound so easy, and Rook’s feet began to take her towards the edge. Even though something in her fought against the fall, another larger part of her was ready to take the leap. The fear she had felt while climbing up that tower just the day before was nowhere to be found. It was only natural to have faith in your soulmate after all. Without another thought, Rook stepped off the concrete.

Even as she plummeted towards the ground, she felt nothing but a certainty that she would be ok. Rook heard Faith speak to her one more time, “I will give you purpose. I will set you free.” Everything went black just before she hit the ground.

When Rook woke up, she was surrounded by corpses underneath Joseph’s concrete statue. The light hurt her eyes, and nausea caused her stomach to twist and turn, as did the sickly sweet stench of the bodies rotting in the sun. Rook knew that logically it was impossible for her to have survived a jump off the statue. More likely the entire thing had been a drug-fueled hallucination influenced by Faith, and someone had placed her here to make her think that she had actually made the leap. 

But that did not change her willingness in the vision. Almost as soon as she was in the Bliss, Rook had ignored all the warnings she had been given about Faith. Hell, she had barely hesitated when Faith instructed her to jump, to show her faith in Joseph Seed. Some part of her wanted to trust her soulmate. It was understandable considering she had grown up like so many others, ready to love the one who was perfect for her. She may be able to resist when conscious, but that was no guarantee when going up against Faith Seed and the Bliss. She thought of Cameron Burke, who just a few days ago wanted nothing more than to take down Joseph Seed and his entire family. His short time with Faith had seemingly morphed him into an entirely different person. Would she become just as addled after a few more experiences in the Bliss? Or would she end up even worse, as one of those dead-eyed Angels that roamed the area?

The deputy struggled to her feet, her body reluctant to obey her commands. She looked back up at the monument and knew that Tracey would love for her to bring it down while she was nearby. Rook began to walk away instead. She was not ready to draw Faith’s attention once more. Hell, blowing up the statue would probably bring Joseph’s focus on her as well. As much as she wanted to destroy the eyesore, she felt too shitty to go up against the cult while still experiencing the aftereffects of her time in the Bliss, plus she had no heavy weapons to actually make a dent in the concrete. Even though her car was gone, she needed to keep going to Holland Valley, so she began walking to the east. 

About an hour into her journey, Rook let out an embarrassing scream when Faith Seed unexpectedly appeared in a flash of lights once more. The hangover feeling was finally fading away, and she had managed to keep down a granola bar, so she had no desire to be forced back into the dream world of the Bliss. However, this time all the young woman did was smile and begin to sing softly to herself. She twirled in a circle, playing with her skirt as she spun. Rook kept her eyes on Faith, refusing to look away and be caught off guard. The woman continued to dance, seemingly happy to leave her alone. After another minute, Rook took a deep breath and marched on by. Faith giggled and waved as she passed, and when Rook turned to look back, the herald was gone.

She saw Faith three more times as she got closer to the Valley. The woman did not try to drug her again, but every time she appeared, Rook’s body tensed. Faith even spoke to her once.

“You’re new around here, aren’t you? Do you think those Cougars really care about you?” Faith’s sweet voice could not mask her derision towards the resistance group. “Do you think if any of them had to choose between you and someone they loved, they would pick you? Don’t you think the Sheriff wishes another one of his deputies had escaped instead of you? You saw how angry he was about Hudson. Do you think he wishes she had been the one to escape and you were in her place?” Rook’s steps faltered at Faith’s words, and the herald pounced on her hesitation. “But our Family wants you, Deputy. We will love you and guide you. Join us, and you will never be alone!” Rook did her best to ignore her, but Faith’s words reached right into her and clawed out her fears and insecurities. For a moment she feared that Faith would somehow know about her mark, but she never mentioned it. It was much more likely Faith was simply preying on the most likely weaknesses of someone who was new to the community, but still Rook caught her hand unconsciously inching toward her hip again and again, as if to try to hide the words from Faith’s gaze. 

Finally, she approached the bridge near Dutch’s island that crossed the Henbane River. Just before she made her way across, she heard the familiar “whoosh” that seemed to announce Faith’s appearances. Rook refused to look back. If her pace quickened, it was just because she was eager to help Hudson. Faith’s voice followed her as she went.

“Bye, Deputy! I hope you enjoy John’s hospitality! I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again soon.” Faith’s cheerful laughter rang out behind her, and the sound echoed in Rook’s head as she made her first steps into the cult-controlled Holland Valley.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so now we're finally off to Holland Valley. Hope you guys liked seeing Faith. I wanted to get her first encounter finished first because reasons. The next chapter should finally have Joseph show up himself again. I know I'm excited for Rook to see that manbun again. It'll also have Boomer, Fall's End, and Nick and Kim Rye! I've got a few pages written already. That was another reason it took so long to get this out. I kept on moving ahead and writing other sections and conversations. I have a conversation with Adelaide done that I really like and look forward to posting in a few chapters. I also have a bit of a meeting with Pratt and Jacob written. Again, if you have strong feelings about them, let me know!
> 
> Hopefully it'll be out in a week or two, but no promises. I don't follow through on fic deadlines very well... Whoops
> 
> Thanks for reading y'all! Let me know what you think!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy! I'm going to work on this over the weekend, and hopefully I'll get another chapter out before it's over. I'm using this as an escape from job hunting so if I'm irresponsible (which is very likely) it'll probably happen sooner than later!
> 
> Also, I'm debating if I want to make Pratt and Jacob a thing too. I don't really actively ship them, but it could just be an interesting dynamic to include. Another reason why Rook really really wants to avoid speaking to Joseph. Plus I love the two characters and would like to try writing them. They're a pretty fucked up ship and I wouldn't want to change that and whitewash everything messed up away. Though it probably wouldn't be quite as tortuous and abusive. Still pretty fucked up though considering how Jacob operates and the inherent power imbalance. But I'm "eh" either way so if you have an opinion let me know. I think Jacob will show up in chapter 3 so plenty of time to decide on that. No Hudson and John though
> 
> Let me know what you think, but keep it to constructive criticism rather than flames. Thanks y'all!
> 
> Also I've made a new tumblr for my Far Cry obsession. I literally just made it today so there's like nothing there, but feel free to come by if you want to talk about Far Cry or anything really! 
> 
> https://damndirtyseeds.tumblr.com/


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